


Exposure

by zephyras13



Series: Exiles [2]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Angst, Discovery, Drabble Collection, Gen, Gotei 13 - Freeform, Male-Female Friendship, Present Tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-28
Updated: 2012-01-28
Packaged: 2017-10-30 06:11:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/328652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zephyras13/pseuds/zephyras13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Old ghosts return to haunt Renji and the rest of the Soul Society.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Exposure

Renji stares at the screen, fists clenched at his sides. Yamamoto-soutaichou is saying something but Renji couldn't care less. He can only try not to let the horror, the relief, the fury, and all the other emotions he feels appear on his face. When a special Captain's meeting was called, he'd been expecting some sort of evaluation maybe, for him and the other two new captains, not this. _Never_ this.

It had been two years since Aizen's mysterious defeat and there'd never been any new information about what had actually happened. Aizen obviously wasn't talking and most shinigami had come to the conclusion that they would never really know the true story. He sneaks a look at his old captain, but Kuchiki Byakuya looks just as stoic as ever. Renji drops his eyes to the floor.

"...previously, we had believed the disappearance of Kuchiki Rukia to be completely unrelated to Aizen's treachery," Yamamoto-soutaichou says gruffly, startling Renji out of his reverie. "However, looking back on the circumstances of Shiba Kaien's death, it would not be a stretch to say that Aizen most likely had a hand in that as well. Kuchiki may have discovered this."

"Wouldn't she have said anything, then?" Soi Fon-taichou says sceptically, raising a dark eyebrow and crossing her arms over her chest. "Why just leave?"

"She must have thought no one would believe her," Ukitake-taichou says, immediately speaking up in Rukia's defense, though out of all of them he looks the most hurt. "Can anyone honestly say they would have?"

No one answers.

"Very well," Yamamoto-soutaichou says authoritatively, tapping his cane against the wooden floor harshly. "For now, Kurotsuchi, you will have a surveillance team keep close watch on Kuchiki Rukia to ascertain if there is any connection between her and Urahara Kisuke. We will make decisions on how to proceed once we have gathered enough information."

"Of course," Kurotsuchi-taichou says, somehow managing to sound nasty and respectful at the same time.

"That will be all," Yamamoto-soutaichou says with a harder tap of his cane. "Dismissed!"

There is a flurry of movement after this pronouncement and Renji is unsurprised to see that Kuchiki-taichou is one of the first to leave the room, leaving his decision to work up the guts and talk to him about Rukia-something they've never done-up in the air.

"Renji," Rangiku-san says, managing to look completely at home in her Captain's haori in a way that Renji envies. "You..." She pauses in an uncharacteristic attempt at tact. "Didn't you grow up with Kuchiki?"

For a second Renji is flung far back into the past, more than forty years ago, when he and Rukia had last stood before the graves of their childhood friends and bade goodbye before enrolling in the Academy, promising to come back and visit. They never had.

"Yeah," he says, with an uncomfortable shrug and refuses to elaborate further.

Rangiku-san frowns, but before she can say anything pitying, Hitsugaya-taichou interrupts them.

"Don't you have a division to be running, Matsumoto?" he asks disdainfully. "Just because it was Aizen's before is no excuse to do poorly."

Rangiku-san executes a perfect pout. "So mean, taichou!" she says dramatically. "Unfortunately, I'm no longer your vice-captain. I don't have to listen to your orders!" She sticks out her tongue and Histsugaya-taichou scowls in response.

"A-aa," Renji says awkwardly, touching the back of his neck with one palm. "I actually have some work to do, so...Jaa, Rangiku-san, Hitsugaya-taichou."

"No, need to be so formal, Renji-kun!" Kyouraku-taichou says as he passes, giving Renji a clap on the shoulder. "You're one of us now."

Renji nods mechanically, but he can't even bring himself to smile for show. As one of the only vice-captains with Bankai, he knows he should have expected it, but to be honest, he was completely surprised when he was asked to become the captain of the Third Division. It's a hell of a lot more paperwork than he expected and he understands now why Ikkaku passed on the promotion. It's been six months already, but he still thinks he'll never get used to the feeling of all the eyes of his... _subordinates_ on him. It's hardly fair because Rangiku-san and Hisagi-senpai seem to be doing fine, and he was being considered for captain far before either of them achieved Bankai.

"Yeah," he says and gives one last glance at the surveillance camera picture on the screen.

She's in a gigai, on a human street, wearing stupid human clothes, the same old exasperated Rukia-smile on her face directed towards one of her several human companions. Her hair is shorter than it was when he last saw her, but besides that she looks _exactly the same_. It actually sickens him a little how much she hasn't changed in the nearly twenty years since she disa-no, _deserted_. And now she's trying to pass as a human, as if all those years in Inuzuri and training as a shinigami never happened at all.

 _"Pathetic_ ," Renji thinks scornfully as he returns to the Third Division barracks.

He doesn't know if he's referring to Rukia or himself.

**Author's Note:**

> You know, I never thought I'd be saying this, but Renji is really polite! Which is really annoying, because I had to go back in the manga and look up all the different ways he addresses specific people, so sorry for the gratuitous Japanese. And also get used to it.
> 
> Anyway, I know it's just the start of the story, but I hope no one's too confused. All will be explained, I promise. Also, I feel I'd better say that the later parts of this story are completely dependent on what happens in the next arc of the manga. So if you aren't up to date, prepare for major spoilers, even as close as the most recent chapter.
> 
> Please review!


End file.
